While the club tries to negotiate the departures of Mariano and Keylor Navas, there remains the not-so-small matter of signing Neymar.

The summer transfer market has taken several unexpected turns for Real Madrid.

Planning started well. The bulk of the signings were closed and presented in June, some of which were even tied up from before, such as Rodrygo (June 2018) and Eder Militao (March 2019). Only the Copa América forced the postponement of Miltao’s presentation until July, a presentation which came to an abrupt end after the Brazilian centre-back began to feel faint.

Once all hope was lost on signing Pogba, and with Bale and James looking to be staying, it seemed like transfer business at the Bernabéu was winding down. That was until PSG flashed Neymar in front of Florentino Peréz and Keylor Navas told the club he was no longer happy to play second fiddle to Courtois.

Mariano

Along the final stretch of the transfer window, Mariano remains the only pending name on the original Operation Exit list after Zidane reconsidered his positions on James and Bale.

Following Kubo’s loan transfer to Mallorca, the departure of Mariano, whose number '7' shirt was handed to Hazard, would leave the squad square with 25 players, including Vinicius and Rodrygo. Although the two youngsters are registered with Castilla for domestic competitions, they need the vacancy left by Mariano to allow either of them to feature on the Champions League squad list.

Neymar

While the club tries to negotiate the departures of Mariano and Navas, there remains the not-so-small matter of Neymar.

The club wanted to sign one more Galactico after securing Eden Hazard in June. And with Pogba becoming a virtual impossibility, the attention has turned to the Brazilian star after PSG had dangled him in front of the Bernabéu door – setting up a tense war between Madrid and Barcelona that looks set to be drawn out until the market close on September 2.